


You, the player

by canidswain



Series: Batter redemption AU [3]
Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, but i wanted to make it open to others so its not explicit, cause rlly theyre my self insert, player has adhd, theyre hfing on off hardcore though JFDSKD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25251961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canidswain/pseuds/canidswain
Summary: You are the player. You are also a tormentor. You are blissfully unaware of that.
Series: Batter redemption AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819504
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	You, the player

**Author's Note:**

> SO I SAID ID WRITE SOMETHIGN FROM THE PLAYERS POV!!!!!!!!  
> this is a little shitty im not that proud of it but i was just in a write-y mood HJDFKS... enjoy  
> also please please PLEASE do not make any comparisons to homestuck with the second person. homestuck is big trauma for me so just please dont. i just thought second person would work best for this oneshot

You are the player.

That's not your name, of course, but it is your role. You downloaded a game you'd heard about, you opened it, and therefore became the player. That is your job, to experience the peculiar little world held inside the coding of this simple RPG you've come to adore.

You are also a tormentor. You are blissfully unaware of that.

This game, OFF, is charming. It came out more that a decade ago, but as always, you are fashionably late to the party. After years of promising yourself you'd eventually get around to it, you finally sat down on a dreary evening and opened it. Since then, you've replayed it at least half a dozen times. You've become enthused with this unique story, perusing wiki-articles and fanmade content, exploring every corner of the game and its lore.

Something rather strange has happened on your most recent playthrough, though. A plotpoint that is seemingly completely and utterly unique - you cannot find any similar experiences to yours that aren't from a mod or fangame.

You have unlocked a Zacharie boss-battle, _somehow_ , and it is utterly impossible. This is a complete anomaly; you've been on every forum and chat thread you can find, asked every question, but you are completely alone.

Your experience is so surreal and interesting that you have even begun a blog to document the findings in your game, as it doesn't end at Zacharie. People have accused you of all sorts - lying, doctoring screenshots, coding your own version of the game to hoax your followers, but nevertheless people still enjoy hearing from you.

At first it was just the bossfight, which you have replayed again and again but never get any closer to beating. Then you began noting how every time you opened the game, the Batter would have spawned in a different area. Maybe the game even randomised the environment, as things would sometimes be different - such as the mall being stacked with books and cushions. Your game also began to glitch; this was Zacharie's doing, as every time you loaded into an area with him situated his sprite would immediately rush to you and halt the Batter's movements entirely. No matter how much you slammed on the arrow keys, Batter's sprite would just uselessly spin in place until you gave up. Your theory was that Zacharie's AI - did he have an AI? His dialogue was always different on your playthroughs, so maybe - was corrupt and he would probably pass this through to Batter. You were no computer expert anyhow.

Through these discoveries, you amassed quite a following of people who were entertained by your posts. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough to make you smile when you uploaded new screenshots. You even had the occasional livestream, which would usually begin with messing around with the game for twenty minutes before you'd move onto some artwork or a different game your fans suggested. It was fun.

You were setting up one such stream now, giggling at the messages in chat as you got comfortable in your clunky old office chair and fixed your camera's position. "Okay, chat," you said with a grin, "Last time I opened OFF, our friend Zacharie was still glitching Batter out. I think maybe if we can get Batter to spawn in somewhere else, we might have at least a half hour of gametime - I'm wondering if there are any secrets in the amusement park?"

Clicking the OFF shortcut on your desktop, you scanned through more comments in the chat while you waited for it to boot up. Your computer's abused fans whirred to life - if you'd have listened a little closer, maybe you would have heard the muffled screaming hidden by the noise.


End file.
